Pennsylvanian Anti-Gas Drilling Protest Groups Seen As National Security Risk

Documents show Homeland Security tracks anti-drill groups in Pennsylvania. Do you think the state should be tracking anti-drill protest groups and then disseminating information on them to law enforcement? According to recently leaked documents, the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security has been tracking anti-gas drilling groups and their meetings — including a public screening of the film “Gasland,” a documentary about the environmental hazards of natural gas drilling. The office has included the information in its weekly intelligence bulletins sent to law enforcement agencies. The bulletins are also sent to gas companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Activists and environmental groups have responded with outrage and some alarm. “There’s something dead-fishy here. … Something is rotten,” activist Gene Stilp said. He has called for a formal House and Senate inquiry into the activities of the Homeland Security Office. State Homeland Security Director James Powers explained that he has been including anti-gas drilling activist information in his triweekly intelligence briefings for about a month because there have been “five to 10” incidents of vandalism around the state related to the natural gas industry, which is one of the sectors he is charged with monitoring. One of those incidents, he said, involved someone shooting a natural gas container tank with a shotgun in Venango County. Powers said the briefings are sent to local law enforcement and the owners and operators of “critical infrastructure.” Comparing himself to Tommy Lee Jones’ character in the film “The Fugitive,” Powers said, “I don’t care” which side of the issue someone is on — or if he or she is innocent. “My concern is public safety.” However, the “intelligence” in the briefings includes lists of public meetings the state has determined anti-drilling activists plan to attend. “I find it kind of creepy that the state is compiling information on the innocuous activity of citizens,” said Jan Jarrett, president of PennFuture, a group that has expressed concern about drilling issues. When one of these intelligence bulletins was spotted on a pro-drilling Internet site and disseminated among anti-drilling activists, Powers sent an e-mail of reprimand to the woman who e-mailed it. He mistakenly thought she was pro-drilling. In the e-mail, Powers told the woman the “sensitive information” she disseminated is not meant for the public, but only for those “having a valid need to know.” He added, “We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale formation natural gas stakeholders, while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies.” Powers sent copies of his e-mail to the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response as well as to Pam Witmer, a lobbyist with the Bravo Group, which lobbies for the gas industry. The first is a contractor for Homeland Security and the second is a “civilian lead” for the energy sector, said Powers. The intelligence bulletin that was made public includes notice of six public meetings that, according to Homeland Security, “have been singled out for attendance by anti-Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas drillingactivists.” They include: township ordinance and zoning meetings in Butler, Wayne and Allegheny counties; a Pittsburgh City Council meeting; a Pennsylvania Forestry Association meeting in Williamsport; and a screening of “Gasland” in Philadelphia. The bulletin also includes information on anarchists, “black power radicals,” Ramadan, the “Jewish High Holiday season” and anti-war activists. “What is next?” asked Stilp. “An enemies-of-gas-drilling list compiled by the government so that police can keep an eye on them? Public surveillance for private companies is not the democratic way. It’s not the way Pennsylvania government is supposed to run.” “We don’t track groups,” Powers said. Which public meetings the anti-drilling folks were planning to attend was supplied by the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, a Philadelphia firm contracted with the state Office of Homeland Security to provide information for the intelligence briefings. When asked if ITRR was tracking groups — specifically, people opposed to drilling in the Marcellus Shale or attending showings of “Gasland” — Powers replied, “I don’t know, I haven’t asked them.” Powers did indicate that someone — either ITRR or state employees, he wouldn’t specify which — was monitoring the “Web traffic” of anti-drilling groups. Mike Perelman, codirector of ITRR, would not say if his firm was tracking anti-drilling activists. “We have a very strict policy that we don’t discuss client matters, period,” said Perelman. “We respect the confidential relationship between us and the client.” Gary Tuma, Gov. Ed Rendell’s spokesman, said, “It is part of Homeland Security’s responsibility to alert local law enforcement, local officials and potential victims” to any possible problems. He said the inclusion of anti-drilling activity in intelligence bulletins “by no means brands groups that speak publicly on one side or the other of an issue as troublemakers.” The information has been included “because there have been acts of vandalism.” Powers added that a lot of times anti-drilling activists show up without obtaining a permit to protest, “and that in itself is a violation of the law.” When it was noted that citizens do not need a permit to attend public meetings and express dissenting opinions, Powers said, “You’re looking at it out of context. I get to see everything over time.” Powers said that when anti-drilling activists attend public meetings, “their presence may spark something else.” He said he didn’t want to see public meetings “escalate to physical criminal acts.” Tuma later elaborated that ITRR is paid through a grant from the federal government to monitor online activity in critical infrastructure areas. And Tuma said that if they found evidence of pro-drilling activity, “the answer is yes, they would notify the Department of Homeland Security about it.” When Powers was asked if he had included the planned activities of pro-drilling groups in any of his bulletins, he was at a loss. “I’m trying to think … I see your point. … This seems to be a very polarizing issue around the state.” When asked if the state had compiled a list of people associated with anti-drilling groups, Powerssaid, “Not that I know of, not in my office.” ((15 SEP 2010))